CUPERTINO, Calif. — Steve Jobs, the Apple founder and former CEO who invented and masterfully marketed ever-sleeker gadgets that transformed everyday technology, from the personal computer to the iPod and iPhone, has died. He was 56.

Apple announced his death without giving a specific cause. He had been battling pancreatic cancer.

“We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today,” the company said in a brief statement. “Steve’s brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve.”

Jobs had battled cancer in 2004 and underwent a liver transplant in 2009 after taking a leave of absence for unspecified health problems. He took another leave of absence in January — his third since his health problems began — before resigning as CEO six weeks ago. Jobs became Apple’s chairman and handed the CEO job over to his hand-picked successor, Tim Cook.

By the time he turned the reins of the company over to Cook, Jobs had become one of the business world’s greatest comeback kids.

The company he founded, was fired from and then returned to had gone from also-ran to technology industry leader. Under Jobs’ intensely detail-oriented leadership, Apple created several iconic products, including the iPod, iPhone and iPad, that have changed the face of consumer technology forever.

Well the wait is over. Apple has finally announced what we all have wondered about. All the various rumors can be put to rest. No iPhone 5 but that only means fuel for the bloggers to start talking about next year. I for one am going to have to think hard which memory version I will go with. I have always wanted a 64GB version and bam here it is. But with iCloud coming will I need it….

• iPhone 4S will be new model
• A5 duel core chip in the iPhone 4S
• 4S will be 7 times faster than the iPhone 4
• dual-core CPU + dual core graphics
• 8 hours of talk time in 3G
• 8MP, at 3264×2448, with 33 percent faster capture
• 6 hours of 3G browsing
• iPhone 4S, iPhone 4 8GB for sale on Oct 14th
• iPhone 3GS 8GB FREE, iPhone 4 8GB $99, iPhone 4S 16GB $199, iPhone 4S 32GB $299, iPhone 4S 64GB $399
• HSDPA+ Data
• 1080p HD video recording

Shares of Hewlett-Packard tumbled Friday following the company’s announcement that it is seeking to spin-off its PC division and will kill off the hardware line it built around Palm’s webOS.

HP’s stock ended the day down $5.91, or 20%, closing at $23.60 per share. That marks the stock’s lowest level since Aug. 16, 2005, mere months after Carly Fiorina was forced out as CEO. Shares even fell below the nadir they hit during the depths of the Great Recession in March 2009.

HP now trades at a puny 4.5 times its future earnings forecasts — about a third of the average price-to-earnings ratio for the S&P 500. But Wall Street analysts’ earnings forecasts had factored in PC sales, which account for roughly 1/3 of HP’s business.

“Investing in HP is now a big bet on printers, non-stop servers and consulting,” said Carl Howe, an analyst at Yankee Group.

The various moves HP announced Thursday are part of its stated goal of transitioning into faster-growing, more profitable businesses like software, servers and corporate technology services. HP will also hang onto its imaging and printer business, even though sales fell 1% last quarter compared to the prior year.

HP’s server business is going strong and is the largest in the world. In fact, its market share is larger than the next two, Dell and IBM, combined.

But it will be a long, steep climb for HP to become a big rival to Oracle in business software and services. Software represents just about 2% of HP’s overall sales.

“They think they’re a software company,” Howe said. “I guess, but other than their network management software, I’m hard pressed to think about what software they’re talking about.”

The company also announced Thursday that it has agreed to buy British software developer Autonomy for roughly $10.2 billion in cash.

But the deal comes at a steep price: At $42.11 per share, the purchase price represents a 58% premium over the company’s average share price over the past month. Autonomy, which had sales of $870 million last year, specializes in database search and other enterprise software technologies.

Curiously — and perhaps paradoxically — HP said it will run Autonomy as a separate company.

As a result of the transition and “challenges that we face across our businesses,” HP reduced its full-year revenue forecast by 9%. It also lowered its profit forecast by 16%, though that dreadful number includes charges related to killing off its webOS products bought from Palm. Without those charges, HP still lowered its previous estimate by 4%.

2112 – Bye Bye HP. Boy I wonder if HP kicks itself now for not waiting? After all if you invested the kind of money they did do you buy Palm or do you buy Blackberry who is prime for take over. And now time for some HP humor. Check out the video below…

Just in case you really weren’t sure that Apple was readying a new iPad, the Wall Street Journals sources have tipped them off about an early 2012 launch for the high-res 9.7-inch iPad 3, which will allegedly have a 2048×1536 display.

TAIPEI–Apple Inc. is working with component suppliers and its assembler in Asia for the trial production of its next generation iPad from October, people familiar with the situation say, as it looks to stay ahead of the competition in the fast-growing tablet computer market.

The Cupertino, Calif., company has ordered key components such as display panels and chips for a new iPad it is aiming to launch in early 2012, said the people.

The next generation iPad is expected to feature a high resolution display – 2048 by 1536 compared with 1024 by 768 in the iPad 2 – and Apple’s suppliers have already shipped small quantities of components for the sampling of the iPad 3. Suppliers said Apple has placed orders for a 9.7-inch screen device

Apple spokeswoman Carolyn Wu in Beijing declined to comment.

One component supplier to Apple said the company has already placed orders for parts for about 1.5 million iPad 3s in the fourth quarter.

“Suppliers will ramp up production and try to improve the yield rate for the new iPad in the fourth quarter before its official launch in early 2012,” said a person at the supplier.

Apple, like many other big personal-computer and consumer-electronics brands, doesn’t actually make most of its products. It hires manufacturing specialists – mainly companies from Taiwan that have extensive operations in China – to assemble its gadgets based on Apple’s designs. They use parts from other outside suppliers, many of which also are from Taiwan and elsewhere in Asia. The arrangement frees Apple and its fellow vendors from running complicated, labor-intensive production lines, while the ability of Taiwanese companies to slash manufacturing costs helps cut product prices over time.

Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. assembles the iPad. A company spokesman declined to comment.

Apple reported blowout earnings for its fiscal third quarter ended June 25 in part due to the popularity of its iPad. The company sold 9.3 million units in the quarter, nearly triple what it sold a year earlier. Together with the robust sales of the iPhone smartphone and other electronics devices, Apple’s net profit for the period more than doubled to $7.31 billion from $3.25 billion a year earlier.

Still, the next-generation iPad would be coming at a time when there’s more competition in the market. Companies from Samsung Electronics Co., Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc., ZTE Corp. and Toshiba Corp. have launched similar devices using Google Inc.’s Android software. Apple is also embroiled in several lawsuits spanning various countries with Samsung Electronics over alleged patent infringement.

Breaking Google to acquire Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion

Google and Motorola Mobility have announced an agreement whereby Google will acquire Motorola for $12.5 billion. The acquisition price equates to $40 per share of Motorola stock, or a premium of 63% over Friday’s closing price. The move is considered in part to be an effort that will better-align Google to compete with Apple’s iPhone, which owned two-thirds of profits among the world’s top-8 smartphone vendors in the second quarter. A Google-owned hardware arm give the company complete control over device hardware, software and services, resulting in an end-to-end user experience that is completely under Google’s command. Perhaps just as important in this day and age, the deal will also give Google control of Motorola’s extensive patent portfolio. “Motorola Mobility’s total commitment to Android has created a natural fit for our two companies,” Google CEO Larry Page said in a statement. “Together, we will create amazing user experiences that supercharge the entire Android ecosystem for the benefit of consumers, partners and developers. I look forward to welcoming Motorolans to our family of Googlers.” It is unclear how this might affect Google’s relationship with other Android partners. The deal is subject to regulatory approval, of course, and it is expected to close in late 2011 or early 2012. The full press release follows below.

“Google to Acquire Motorola Mobility

Combination will Supercharge Android, Enhance Competition, and Offer Wonderful User Experiences

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. & LIBERTYVILLE, Ill.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Motorola Mobility Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: MMI) today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Google will acquire Motorola Mobility for $40.00 per share in cash, or a total of about $12.5 billion, a premium of 63% to the closing price of Motorola Mobility shares on Friday, August 12, 2011. The transaction was unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies.

“Motorola Mobility’s total commitment to Android has created a natural fit for our two companies. Together, we will create amazing user experiences that supercharge the entire Android ecosystem for the benefit of consumers, partners and developers. I look forward to welcoming Motorolans to our family of Googlers.”

The acquisition of Motorola Mobility, a dedicated Android partner, will enable Google to supercharge the Android ecosystem and will enhance competition in mobile computing. Motorola Mobility will remain a licensee of Android and Android will remain open. Google will run Motorola Mobility as a separate business.

Larry Page, CEO of Google, said, “Motorola Mobility’s total commitment to Android has created a natural fit for our two companies. Together, we will create amazing user experiences that supercharge the entire Android ecosystem for the benefit of consumers, partners and developers. I look forward to welcoming Motorolans to our family of Googlers.”

Sanjay Jha, CEO of Motorola Mobility, said, “This transaction offers significant value for Motorola Mobility’s stockholders and provides compelling new opportunities for our employees, customers, and partners around the world. We have shared a productive partnership with Google to advance the Android platform, and now through this combination we will be able to do even more to innovate and deliver outstanding mobility solutions across our mobile devices and home businesses.”

Andy Rubin, Senior Vice President of Mobile at Google, said, “We expect that this combination will enable us to break new ground for the Android ecosystem. However, our vision for Android is unchanged and Google remains firmly committed to Android as an open platform and a vibrant open source community. We will continue to work with all of our valued Android partners to develop and distribute innovative Android-powered devices.”

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including the receipt of regulatory approvals in the US, the European Union and other jurisdictions, and the approval of Motorola Mobility’s stockholders. The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2011 or early 2012.”